New Hampshire Takes Another Look at Rick Perry

New Hampshire Takes Another Look at Rick Perry

During the 2012 Presidential Campaign, Texas Governor Rick Perry did not spend much time courting the voters of New Hampshire. It appears that is something he intends to correct in the very early months of what seems to be building to a second attempt at moving from the Governor’s mansion of Texas to the White House in January of 2017.

Instead of Gov. Perry going to New Hampshire to woo key early activists and party leaders, a group of Granite State delegates will be making the journey to Texas.  The New Hampshire Journal cites Granite Reports stating that about a dozen activists and officials plan to travel to the Lone Star State to meet with Perry and personally witness the economic successes that are likely to be central in a 2016 campaign.

New Hampshire Primary strategist Mike Dennehy is organizing the visit.  Dennehy led two of Sen. John McCain’s New Hampshire Primary victories. The trip includes people who supported Perry’s 2012 bid and some who did not–but seem to be interested in giving Texas’ longest serving governor a second look.

While Perry has not announced his intentions to run for President in 2016, he is clearly making all the moves that one would expect a presidential contender to make.

The announcement from the New Hampshire activists comes days after Perry told CBS This Morning he had learned some valuable lessons from the 2012 campaign. 

“One of the more humbling experiences that I’ve had in life was going through the 2011, 2012 process running for the presidency. I learned a lot of lessons,” said Perry. “The least of which is if you’re going to run for president, I highly recommend you don’t have major back surgery six weeks before you start and that you spend a lot of time in preparation.”

Perry has a positive story to tell the nation.  Texas unemployment, according to the CBS report, is 5.5 percent, well below the national average of 6.7 percent.  Texas added over 28,000 jobs in March.

Dennehy has agreed to help the Americans for Economic Freedom group that was established last year by some people close to Gov. Perry according to the NH Journal. His role is reportedly to help Perry and his team broaden the Texas economic message and transform it to a national agenda.

Recently Perry challenged New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to engage in a debate on which state is better for business.  Responding to New York’s new economic campaign “The New NY“, Perry said, “If you’re tired of New York, there’s an option: Texas.”

Perry has a lot of work to do in rebuilding his national brand and recovering from a series of gaffes which occurred in the 2012 campaign.  To that, Dennehy responded, “I believe that people will give him a second chance if he decides to run for President.  That is the nature of America and that is certainly the nature of New Hampshire.”

Perry told CBS, “I think how people respond when they’ve been knocked down is a better reflection of their character than if everything is all blue sky and the wind behind your back. I’ve had the wind in my face. I’ve been knocked down and I’m ready to move on.”

Follow Bob Price on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX

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